Lead Product Platform Security Engineer

Avalara is an AI-first company that provides an industry-leading cloud compliance platform connecting tax and technology. The Lead Product Platform Security Engineer will lead the design and adoption of secure-by-default capabilities across CI/CD pipelines, cloud infrastructure, and runtime environments. The role provides technical leadership on platform security, drives cross-functional security programs, advances AI-enabled security capabilities, and mentors engineering teams.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and implementation of secure-by-default platform capabilities, including authentication, secrets management, encryption, identity controls, and security automation services
• Establish and drive adoption of zero-trust architecture principles, least-privilege access models, and platform security standards across infrastructure and engineering environments
• Serve as the technical lead for Platform Security initiatives, providing direction, prioritization, and technical leadership across multiple teams and stakeholders
• Act as a subject matter expert on threat modeling, software supply chain security, cloud security, infrastructure security, and secure software development practices
• Drive complex, cross-functional security programs with clearly defined milestones, measurable outcomes, and organizational impact
• Develop and execute strategic remediation programs that improve security posture and reduce risk across the enterprise
• Partner with engineering leaders to integrate security capabilities into development platforms, CI/CD systems, and cloud-native architectures
• Evaluate and implement AI-enabled approaches that improve security operations, vulnerability management, and platform protection capabilities
• Mentor engineers and help elevate platform security expertise across the broader engineering organization
• Significantly improve automated security coverage across software delivery and cloud infrastructure environments
• Reduce vulnerability backlog volume and remediation cycle times through scalable tooling, automation, and process improvements
• Establish sustainable vulnerability triage and prioritization processes adopted across engineering teams
• Improve signal quality and reduce false positives through contextual analysis and security engineering improvements
• Lead the successful delivery of multiple platform-wide security initiatives with measurable risk reduction outcomes
• Establish reusable platform security patterns and controls adopted by engineering teams across the organization
• Deliver AI-enabled security capabilities that measurably improve vulnerability discovery, prioritization, analysis, or remediation effectiveness
• Develop and implement AI-enabled approaches that improve vulnerability discovery, prioritization, triage, and remediation workflows
• Lead the evaluation and adoption of AI technologies that strengthen platform security capabilities and operational efficiency
• Identify opportunities where AI can improve detection, analysis, threat assessment, and security decision-making
• Demonstrate measurable improvements in security outcomes through AI-enabled automation and tooling
• Promote responsible, secure, and governance-aware use of AI technologies
• Mentor others and help establish best practices for AI adoption within Security and Engineering teams
• Demonstrate exceptional ownership and accountability for platform security outcomes
• Raise technical standards through architectural leadership, mentorship, and engineering excellence
• Influence security and engineering decisions through expertise, credibility, and sound judgment
• Drive alignment across teams to implement scalable security solutions and consistent engineering practices
• Develop reusable frameworks, patterns, and approaches that improve security maturity across the organization
• Strengthen the capabilities of other engineers through coaching, collaboration, and technical leadership
• Leave systems, teams, processes, and security programs stronger than they found them

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, or a related technical discipline
• 12+ years of relevant professional experience, including at least 5 years focused on cloud, infrastructure, or platform security
• Strong programming experience in Java, Go, Python, or similar languages used for security automation and platform engineering
• Deep expertise in cloud platform security across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or OCI environments
• Expertise in container security, Kubernetes security, service mesh technologies, Infrastructure as Code, and cloud security posture management
• Strong understanding of identity and access management, network security, vulnerability management, runtime security, and software supply chain security
• Proven experience designing and integrating security tooling into CI/CD pipelines, software delivery workflows, and cloud-native platforms
• Experience leading large-scale security initiatives involving multiple engineering teams and stakeholder groups
• Strong communication and technical leadership skills with the ability to influence engineering organizations
• Experience securing large-scale SaaS or cloud-native platforms
• Experience leading platform security or security engineering programs
• Experience with AI-enabled security tooling and emerging AI security technologies
• Security certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, GCSA, or equivalent
• Experience establishing security standards, architecture patterns, and engineering governance practices